Geology Rocks!

We have official begun digging into our study of the Earth!  Kids + Science = a winning combo!  

Our sweet second graders are having a blast with this unit. 

Landform Flipbooks

Teams creating a map showing key landforms in the US.

Busy bees.

Do you see Mt. Kilauea on Hawaii!?  Love! 

Sharing what we've learned and teaching our study buddies.

Here students created landforms of their choice, then we weathered and eroded them. :)

Such fun, but do you hear that vocabulary?!

Show Me the Money!

Our last math topic was all about money.  I am really impressed by how well the students did with this concept.  Of course we had some fun along the way as well.  I'm so thankful to be at such an innovative exciting school where we have freedom and do not have to teach by text book alone. :)

Having our very own lemonade stand to make money have a real life application.

Working on lemonade theme money math centers while enjoying a cold glass of lemonade and a cookie.

More lemonade theme money math center fun.

Hard at work!  

Ah a treat makes everything more special!

One happy mathematician!

Running the stand takes teamwork!

Scanning QR codes to check her work.

Planning out her order.

Football Math

We had a SUPER fun week of math leading up to the SUPER Bowl!  We took a little hiatus from our math book and focused on measurement and graphing.  The kids were so pumped on the topic which made our math time just oh so fun!    We learned how to measure with centimeters, inches, feet, and yards.  I may or may not have written my own "It's All About the Length" (a spin off of It's All About the Bass) song to help our learning.  :)  Along with this we learned how to find the perimeter of a shape, how to tell time, and how to graph.

Teamwork to create the Super Bowl field.  It had to be measured out perfectly!

Is that exactly 1 inch?  Oh yes it is!

After measuring out and designing the field, students found the perimeter.

Graphing our Super Bowl predictions.

Journeys Unit

Wow!  Time is zooming by and it's been a while since I have last shared.  A lot has been happening in room 8 and our little stars are growing by leaps and bounds!  Let me start a recap of some of what we've been up to!

Our "Flat Selves" have been trickling back and we have been learning all about our beautiful country as well as many travel adventures.  To go along with our Journeys unit, we've been studying about our American Flag, our national bird, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the three branches of government.

Partners researching and taking notes on Bald Eagle facts.

Digging deep to find the answers to all of our questions about eagles.

Teamwork <3

Hard at work! We separated our notes into various categories to keep our research organized.

We watched a live eagle cam to see these magnificent birds in the wild.

The children followed along with a directed draw and tear art project.
Last, students wrote exceptional acrostic poems about BALD EAGLES to share all about what they learned.

We also studied all about the American Flag.  I love seeing the kiddos become experts in new topics!  We read, researched, watched videos, and wrote informational paragraphs all about Old Glory.  Then we put our problem solving and math skills to work and created the American Flag.  I literally gave each student a ruler, (to ensure success, we spent time learning how to measure and draw straight lines the days prior in math) a white and red piece of 18" x 12" construction paper and asked how are we going to create the American Flag with these supplies.  They had to measure and problem solve to figure out the most logical way to make the flag look realistic.  Last we added the 50 stars using our spacial awareness skills.  I love the way they turned out, and our second graders were proud.  This was a tricky task!

Next we studied all about our Lincoln and Washington.  In our classic room 8 style we read, researched, watch videos, learned songs and dances, wrote, and created projects centered around these two significant American heroes.

Researching and sorting Lincoln Facts and Fibs.

Creating a timeline of Lincoln's life.

I love seeing my sweet students belly down and hard at work!

Off to a good start!

Working hard!

A finished project and some happy faces.  

Having fun and learning too!

We incorporated Lincoln with our Valentine's Day fun.  We read that Lincoln kept important letters in his hat, so what a perfect place to keep our Valentine's Day treasures!

Graphing Sweet Goodies.

Graphing Skittles!  Joy!

For my sweet friends.  I <3 them! 

Our Adventures with Flat Stanley!

This week we read a fun novel titled Flat Stanley, written by Jeff Brown.  One of the amazing things Stanley is able to do once he is flat is visit friends by traveling through the mail.  Well, we took this idea and wanted to try it out for ourselves!  Each child has created a flat version of them self, written a letter to a friend or family member that lives somewhere in the USA, and we mailed out our flat kiddos on Friday.  This is such a fun way to learn about several different states in the U.S.  I am so excited to hear about the upcoming adventures!  Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Young for walking with us down to the mailbox on a wild and drizzly afternoon. You are amazing!

Click HERE to see some shots from our project. :)

Amazing Polar Bears

Two weeks ago we studied all about Polar Bears and also continued our practice with informational text features.  Each student completed an Amazing Polar Bear Book.  On each page students did a close reading about polar bears and identified which informational text feature was found on that page.  Then students were instructed to write their own text dependent question related to the content of each page.  Last they answered their question using the text as a resource and highlighted the proof.  Wow!  Our second graders are sure digging deep into reading!

Along the way we had a lot of fun with this unit of study.  We learned first hand how blubber helps polar bears stay warm in icy temperatures by taking our own polar bear plunge!

Now because text features may not get everyone super pumped, I upped my game and brought slingshot arrows for the students to use when they stepped up to our informational text feature board.  Fun and learning, a success in my book!

Of course we added a beautiful art project to solidify our learning.  First we used chalk to create the northern lights.  Next, students painted a snowy ground and a few trees.  For the polar bear we watched an amazing artist on you tube teach us how to make a polar bear step by step.  The kids did beautifully!  I'm definitely thinking these masterpieces will make a debut in the upcoming winter art gallery.

And last of all, students wrote an informational paragraph all about these amazing bears.  They completed this writing 100% on their own so I could use them as an assessment piece.  Way to go super second graders!  I am so proud of your dedication to learning!